AN OAKWORTH teenager has won a place with National Youth Music Theatre after competing against more than 1,000 young people.

Millie Marsh, 14, won a bursary to join the theatre company after taking part in a three-hour audition at Northern Ballet in Leeds.

She will follow in the footsteps of pop star Ed Sheeran and TV and theatre actress Sheridan Smith to perform with the theatre company across the UK.

Holy Family School student Millie will first travel to Plymouth to spend two weeks training with National Youth Music Theatre company before going on stage.

She will then become a dancer in the show, entitled The Children of the New Forest.

Millie attends Charlie’s School of Dance in Parkwood, taught by former child dance prodigy Charlie Rawson, and hopes to become a professional dancer and actress when she is older.

Millie’s mum Kelly said: “Charlie has been supportive and inspiring Millie to follow her dreams, working tirelessly one-to-one to help her with routines and be the best she can be.”

Millie also attends a ballet, tap and jazz class at the Dance Mill in Halifax, and a drama class in Bingley Calder Articulate.

Kelly added: “Millie has competed at lots of dance competitions across Britain and has also modelled for Littlewoods, Kays, Very and Isme, and danced in a local pantomime.”

The Children of the New Forest will be performed on August 26 and 27, at the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth, and is based on a classic story set during the English Civil War.

During the 1600s, Edward and his three siblings are orphaned when their father is killed by Parliamentary soldiers on the hunt for Charles I.

Fleeing, the children adopt a modest life and begin the fight to save their home, their family and their king.